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I remember the 1995 Rockets going gang busters in the 95 playoffs defeating Utah, Phoenix, San Antonio and Orlando.

Why did that team only go 47-35 during the regular season coming off of the 1994 NBA title?

Playoff Hangover? Some people like to do things the hard way. As always, the West was more loaded than the East. You had really good teams in the West that year, San Antonio, Seattle, Utah, Phoenix. We came good for the playoffs and won our second title.

A lot of people give you the old, "Not if Jordan wasn't retired" line. They have never bothered to check, but over the span of their respective careers, (Olajuwon Vs Jordan) Houston beat Chicago (playing twice a year) more often than not. In other words we had Chicago's number. I argue we would have beaten Chicago in a playoff series, (Orlando did, and we swept them out of the finals.)

Unfortunately, Seattle had ours. For some reason, Payton and Kemp used to torch Houston.

Injuries, some chemistry issues and a loaded Western Conference who were not willing to wait for the Rockets to right their ship.

There was a lot of controversy at the time to trade Otis Thorpe for Clyde Drexler. Thorpe was the solid, glue guy of the team and a lot of people at the time thought that Drexler just didn't have enough to get it done. Plus, it was a major change for the defending champions to make mid-season.

After the trade it was very clear that Vernon Maxwell was not happy. He was a key component for the first Championship and the Rockets brought in someone to replace him as a starter. He quit on the team after the first game of the playoffs and that seems like it was the final domino. The team just clicked from there on out and proceeded to give us one of the most impressive performances by any team in NBA playoff history.

Mr. E wrote:Injuries, some chemistry issues and a loaded Western Conference who were not willing to wait for the Rockets to right their ship.
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sounds just like this years rockets...

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Mr. E wrote:Injuries, some chemistry issues and a loaded Western Conference who were not willing to wait for the Rockets to right their ship.

There was a lot of controversy at the time to trade Otis Thorpe for Clyde Drexler. Thorpe was the solid, glue guy of the team and a lot of people at the time thought that Drexler just didn't have enough to get it done. Plus, it was a major change for the defending champions to make mid-season.

After the trade it was very clear that Vernon Maxwell was not happy. He was a key component for the first Championship and the Rockets brought in someone to replace him as a starter. He quit on the team after the first game of the playoffs and that seems like it was the final domino. The team just clicked from there on out and proceeded to give us one of the most impressive performances by any team in NBA playoff history.

Also before the trade for Drexler you had Maxwell punching a fan and getting suspended for 10 games.

Mr. E wrote:The team just clicked from there on out and proceeded to give us one of the most impressive performances by any team in NBA playoff history.

This.

The run was impressive because, really, that team shouldn't have won.
This is why Houston fans love them so much. Supreme underdog story. Tons of character guys who've stuck around the franchise since then. Top-tier NBA class act getting his dues.

Nothing to not like about them, really, but they had very little business winning it and definitely beat the odds.

kam_soluusar wrote:Playoff Hangover? Some people like to do things the hard way. As always, the West was more loaded than the East. You had really good teams in the West that year, San Antonio, Seattle, Utah, Phoenix. We came good for the playoffs and won our second title.

A lot of people give you the old, "Not if Jordan wasn't retired" line. They have never bothered to check, but over the span of their respective careers, (Olajuwon Vs Jordan) Houston beat Chicago (playing twice a year) more often than not. In other words we had Chicago's number. I argue we would have beaten Chicago in a playoff series, (Orlando did, and we swept them out of the finals.)

Unfortunately, Seattle had ours. For some reason, Payton and Kemp used to torch Houston.

I was a huge fan of that Seattle team... at the time...they had winning records against Houston & Chicago... but they had a bad habit of losing to the 8th ranked team in the first round of the playoffs...

moofs wrote:

Mr. E wrote:The team just clicked from there on out and proceeded to give us one of the most impressive performances by any team in NBA playoff history.

This.

The run was impressive because, really, that team shouldn't have won.
This is why Houston fans love them so much. Supreme underdog story. Tons of character guys who've stuck around the franchise since then. Top-tier NBA class act getting his dues.

Nothing to not like about them, really, but they had very little business winning it and definitely beat the odds.

Stars were aligned for that team... and they were very impressive... they did what needed to be done